The Spongetones "too Clever By Half"

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Jamie Hoover and company are back doing what they do best. One of the finest power pop bands of Beatlesque heritage, The Spongetones have influenced a whole new generation of musicians from James Deem, The Saving Graces, Frank Royster, Cool King Chris, Crisis, Analog Daze, The Dukes of Stratford, Carl Rosen, Lindy Dobbins, The Sammies, and The Everyday Things. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. After we establish the triumphant Rickenbacker jangle of “Invisible Girl” it sets the tone here and then we get to the first great Spongetones classic in “I’d Love You” with it’s “Got To You Into My Life” guitar coda after the chorus. Hoover still has a McCartney-like sense of melody with the easy flowing “Man With No Skin.” And the band has evolved their Fab sound, not unlike the way XTC had done during it’s “Oranges and Lemons” era – the toe tapping “One More Day” is a great example of this. A huge amount of tracks here, eighteen – and it’s almost overwhelming. On the other hand, with a large majority of the music great, you can excuse a bit of indulgence here and there. Sometimes, the earnest romantic vibe strays into maudlin territory, with “Three Kisses For You” sounding like a Frodo Baggins-inspired love ballad. But even among the really good tracks here, you get a true monster hit like “When it’s you” with an amazing hook that never lets go, and includes vocal harmonic gymnastics that would shame Lindsey Buckingham and chord changes guaranteed to give you goosebumps. This is why others bow to the genius of Mr. Hoover. Then again, Hoover tests the limits of the band, and it’s ability to make quirky pop a la Moe Berg or Andy Partridge. It does work well on “She’s Happenin'” and less so on “Easy with You.” Other worthy classics are comments on this crazy music business, “King Ampersand” and “Your Entourage” are wonderful songs that reflect the musicians’ life. Simple pleasures are found in the bossa nova-styled “Stalemates” and the matter of fact lyrics in “Must Be Lust.” You almost want the band to cut loose even more on “Elvis Doctor” with it’s Hound-Dog beat and guitar swing. Needless to say, this is super-recommended to everyone who loves great music. 

My Space | CD Baby | Not Lame

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Paul Steel interviewed and a Jaimie Vernon article

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Here is the video single “Your Loss” from the upcoming album “Moon Rock” – – I got a chance to interview Paul Steel for the Powerpopaholic here. It wasn’t easy as Paul has already had done a ton of interviews in his native England, and they got all the cool questions, but I hoped to shed a bit more light on his album “April & I” now available on Itunes.

NOTE TO MUSICIANS:
I also got the opportunity to re-post an excellent “article” of advice from Bullseye Records exec. Jaimie Vernon. If you are an indie artist looking for some kind of success in this business, Jaimie offers up some great tips.
power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.

The Campbell Apartment "Insomniacs Almanac" FREE Album

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The Campbell Apartment formed in mid to late 2007 when long-time friends Ari Vais and Dan Haag had a conversation about how for the 10 years they have known each other, they’ve always wanted to play together but never have. So now they have collaborated to create the first album “Insomniacs Almanac” which I can say has a Guided By Voices meets Fountains of Wayne-styled sound. So it’s no surprise that FOW is touring with them. The opener “Long Distance Relationship” sounds like an outtake from GBV’s “Alien Lanes” with contrasting vocal and guitar melodies that melt together. The short tunes are full of cognizant material and occasionally hilarious lyrics. Both “Wife” and “St. Louis” have those wonderful hook-filled choruses and stream of thought details similar to FOW. By mid album, the tone changes a bit to more topical humor, an example are the very funny “How To Be Alone” and “Addicted To MySpace” that fans of Jonathan Coulton or They Might Be Giants will appreciate. The next group of songs “Afterthought” and “Stuck” get a lttile more guitar heavy and lean closer towards Weezer. Toward album’s end Vais and Haag ruminate on the effects of creative burnout. This is evidenced with “Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired” and the tired theme continues with “Feverish and Friendly” where they mention “the only thing that I can think of is sleep.” Overall a fine album that will appeal without a doubt to GBV and FOW fans, as well as anyone who thinks they spend too much time on a computer… Wait, do I have an e-mail? Let me check.

UPDATE

The album can be listened to streaming on the band’s label Headphone Treats. But for a limited time the entire album will be available for as a FREE download from AmieStreet.com

My Space | Headphone Treats

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Cinderpop "A Lesson in Science"

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Cinderpop is a offbeat Vancouver power pop group with distorted guitar and rhythm accompanied by the sweet harmonic vocals of Kevan Ellis. The short title song “A Lesson in Science” has a Beatles vibe, that leads into “Speechless” a full indie mid tempo guitar song with a haunting chorus that remind me of The Sneeches meeting The Left Banke. The style is very catchy as the album see-saws between guitars and pianos, but stays bright and fun throughout. With “Blonder” we get the guitars and spacey jangle that Frank Black would be proud of, and then those Beatlesque harmonies kick in. The next tune “Cinnamon Winter” is vibrant piano pop and has an effervescence that makes this band easy to love. Then out of left field “Speed of Light” glides by like an Eric Matthews orch-pop baroque trip. Cinderpop’s strength here is the ability to fuse together aspects of ’60s piano pop and 90’s guitar and bass effortlessly. The dream-like “Mary. All Messed in The Head” and “Latest of Five” uses a slow guitar strum and Ellis’ vocal to channel a Shins-like ballads that often refer to dark tragedies. The manic opener “Bumblebee” features a progression of synths over the guitar chaos, but still that melody shines through the dissonance, much like an early Radiohead track. Other than the strange effects laden “Bounce Me” to end the album, every track does a great job of drawing you into the music.

Cinderpop Site | My Space | CD Baby

Listen to “Cinnamon Winter”

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Bill Popp and The Tapes "My Lonely Mind"

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Bill Popp is among the unsung heroes of power pop. Popp is a music veteran of early 60’s rock influences in the classic tradition of The Beatles, REM, and The Who. Popp and his band, The Tapes delivers melodic hooks, combined with dance grooves and poetic harmony, that have a timeless quality. He compares well to Frank Royster, with more of a British Merseybeat flavor. The lyrics are personal and touching in all cases here, and fans who favor DIY artists like Chris Breetveld (“The Breetles”) will go nuts for Bill Popp and seek out his music. The new album starts with “Paradise,” a “don’t-worry-be-happy” mantra set to a nice guitar riff. It’s got a nice Beatley vibe and just the right amount of mellow reassurance in the chorus. The follow up “Perfect Idiot” is a wonderful fast paced diatribe of self-criticism and nervous conversation in under three minutes all set to a wonderful hook. “Love and Lust” is a very Pete Townshend-styled rocker with plenty of jangle and a sweet piano break in the middle of the song. The song “Your Hero” is an perfect autobiographical snapshot of Popp at 50 years old – he’ll literally tell you, “Yeah, I tend to drink a lot, but what else do I got?” in the song. The Popp’s wisdom continues in the song “Love Many Trust Few” – it has a little rap in the middle with guitars, that reminds me a little bit of 10cc. A nice cover of The Beau Brummels “Just a Little” round out this release. It a shame that this band isn’t bigger or more well known than they are. They are one of NYC’s best kept musical secrets. CD Baby is expected to carry the album soon, but you can check out earlier releases there.

Bill Popp’s Site | My Space | CD Baby

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